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A Rare First (Reach-in freezer)

I'm sure most of you are aware what a PITA refrigeration can be. At times it seems the insidious master of refers has a plan to screw you just at the wrong time.

Upon entering the kitchen first thing in the morning, I noticed a puddle in front of the reach-in freezer. I noticed the door was slightly ajar and closed it, thinking it was just some melt-age. Few hours later the Sous comes in and says, "Jefe, freezer's not working". "Darn!" (not what I really said).

Long story short........The compressor was hot as hell and seized-up. On a wing and a prayer I decided to keep it unplugged until the next morning in hopes of it working after it thoroughly cooled down. Typically I'd be looking at a new compressor and install, $1400ish, right out of my pocket. (That's good knife money)

The next morning I plugged it in and damned if she didn't start running. It's been running perfect for three days now.

It made me think about all those "burnt out" compressors I've replaced over the years.

When your refrigeration breaks down you have to spend knife money to fix it. When you spend knife money it makes you sad. When you are sad you drink too much. When you drink too much your wife leaves you. When your wife leaves you there is no one to clean your house. When no one cleans your house, you move to a fancy hotel where they clean, cook and do your laundry. When you live in a fancy hotel you go broke. When you go broke, you go homeless. When you go homeless, you live in a refrigerator box.

The moral of the story is if you don't maintain the evil beasts they will own you.

...When your refrigeration breaks down you have to spend knife money to fix it. When you spend knife money it makes you sad. When you are sad you drink too much. When you drink too much your wife leaves you. When your wife leaves you there is no one to clean your house. When no one cleans your house, you move to a fancy hotel where they clean, cook and do your laundry. When you live in a fancy hotel you go broke. When you go broke, you go homeless. When you go homeless, you live in a refrigerator box.

Is any of this autobiographical? Anyhow, if you are living in a box, exercise machine boxes work well too, as do deck furniture boxes. Just modularize them and create a box compound.

k.

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States...nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” -- Isaac Asimov

Charlotte, NC AKA The Queen City! The lint-filled belly button of the south.

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2,995

Hope it keeps running for you and isn't just a tease. Refrigeration is/can be the biggest PITA(next to labor) in the world. If more chefs, managers and owners would pay attention to their HVAC equipment they could save themselves a ton of knife $$$$. My HVAC guy is great and an honest guy. There was one time he could've easily pocketed 4 grand from us by replacing something that was under warranty. That's solid in my book. He also was nice enough to teach me enough to know when to turn off my unit and which signs to look for.
I hope the Gods of refrigeration continue to smile upon you.

In the past year, the freezer at my work has lost it's compressor twice and sprung a leak twice. The leaks weren't a big deal, at worst it'd get to about -5 so most of the food kept, just the sorbets got kinda squishy. The day the compressor died was pretty memorable. Was working fine on Saturday, then when myself and the chef came in on Monday morning (we're closed Sundays) the thermometer read 40degrees celcius, we figured it must be a mistake...I don't think anything could prepare me for the sensory assault that happened when I opened the door.

Anything in a sealed bag was puffed up like a balloon (cryvac'd jus, ducks, some smoked butter), melting rolls of roquefort and herb butter, soggy rolls of puff pastry, a dripping sack of flacid ox tail; I could go on and on. The smell was un-godly and it's a real mind-f**k pulling soft, warm produce out of a freezer while feeling the musky hot air on your skin, truly disgusting. All up, I think we lost about a grand worth of produce.

Anyway, got it fixed the same day, then the following week the "new" compressor went on it again. Thankfully it only made it to a humble 20oC, but still, lost all the stock in it once again. I think we got some sort of discount the second time around on the new part but still BS.